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It’s spring and the Great Blue Heron have begun to return to their rookies within Devil’s Lake State Park. This is an exciting annual event for folks who love seeing the park’s wildlife!
Drones & Loose Dogs
Before we talk about how to visit the rookery, it’s important to cover how NOT to interact, given that we’ve already seen one drone being launched near the rookery. Drones are NOT allowed in Wisconsin State Parks and flying a drone near a rookery for fun or personal photography is clearly harassing wildlife. Also allowing dogs to run unleashed underneath the rookery is again, illegal and harassing wildlife. Sadly we see this every single year out there. Since most of us do actually care, when you see something like this please CALL OR TEXT 1-800-847-9367. You will need to tell them the park you are in and the location. (The rookery is located near the CCC parking area on Devil’s Lake’s south shore.)
Visiting The Rookery
There are now 2 rookeries in the park, but the easiest to visit is located near the CCC parking lot on South Shore. In the lot, you simply look up into the pines. The majority of the rookery is to the south of the parking area, but the heron will nest in the pine trees all around the parking area. The great part about visiting the Heron is that if you wish, you can watch them from your car. They are big birds and easy to see, (Even cheap binoculars make it more enjoyable!) once you locate a nest. They can also get very loud as they chatter, argue, and nest build.
If You Go
Just a reminder, Don’t walk under the nests. (Heron are into “human distancing”) Not only does it get filled with bird poop, but the favorite defense of the heron is to throw up on you. Imagine smelly, fish, snake & frog barf dropping down from the sky onto your head!!! And if that’s not enough, heron have also been known to use their beaks to pierce the skulls of invaders!!
Remember pets and wildlife don’t mix, so it’s best to keep your dogs in the car if you are visiting the rookery.
Get a map & learn more about the Devil’s Lake Heron Rookery here.
For nearly 2 decades the Skillet Creek blog has focused on 3 main goals; To inspire you to visit and explore the Devil’s Lake region, to help you get the most your visit by sharing tips, events, and other helpful information. Lastly to advocate for our environment & wildlife and talk about how we can keep our natural areas amazing now and into the future! That last goal can sometimes cause controversy, but it’s the only way we can accomplish the first two. – Derrick Mayoleth, Owner.
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